Lust Stories is an anthology film made up of four short films written and directed by Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap. The four had previously collaborated with the 2013 anthology film, Bombay Talkies, which was basically a celebration for the 100th year of Indian cinema, so consider this a spiritual sequel. Although, the subject matter is far different this time around.
As the title implies, Lust Stories are all about sexuality, specifically the various complexities in female desire within the context of Indian society, which has a history of oppressing open expressions of sexual agency from women. We’ve even seen that recently given the responses to Veere Di Wedding.
The first short is from Anurag Kashyap. It follows Kalindi (Radhika Apte), a professor at a university where she has a one night stand with a student, and quickly becomes obsessed and possessive, all while insisting that she isn’t. Like many of Kashyap’s films, he brings a lot of empathy to a character who might not be so easily won over in any other context, and he brings the story to life through some electric filmmaking. She often does monologues to the camera, talking about her various thoughts and anxieties. It has a great, biting sense of humor, and Apte is totally committed to the character.
The second short is by Zoya Akhtar, notably the only female director in the film, and it’s by far and away the most quiet and sensitive one in the film. In it, Bhumi Pednekar plays a maid who works for, and has a casual physical relationship with a single man who lives alone in his flat. However, things change when his parents come over and begins the process of arranging his marriage to a woman who later visits the flat with her family. It’s a somber short that explores class, longing, inevitability, the unspoken boundaries thereof, often done entirely unspoken. Pednekar is brilliant in how she says so much with glances and gestures, given that she only has like two lines of dialogue within the 20 minute runtime of the short. It’s poignant, thoughtful, and beautiful.
The third short is from Dibakar Banerjee. It follows Rena (Manisha Koirala), a woman who is unhappy with her marriage and is cheating on her husband with his best friend. It’s probably my least favorite out of all the shorts, but even then, it’s still very compelling and the performances are great. It also plays on your expectations of stories that involve infidelity, and subverts them in really fun, thoughtful, and interesting ways. It’s definitely the most fascinating and challenging of the four.
The final short is by Karan Johar. He’s the most mainstream filmmaker out of all of these folks, so this short definitely has more populist sensibilities. It’s lighthearted, features more music, and humor, but it makes the more hard edged moments stand out even more. It’s about Megha (Kiara Advani), a newlywed who isn’t sexually satisfied with her husband; amusingly counting down the five seconds he lasts with her hand every single time. This one focuses more on loving yourself and taking care of your own needs when they aren’t being satisfied by others, if you catch my drift. Her co-worker, played by Neha Dhupia, advises her to take matters into her own hands, which leads to an amazing payoff with a gag that involves one of Johar’s most popular films, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and it had me laughing so hard I had to pause it. It ends the film on a really great note.
Lust Stories continues a fascinating collaborative effort from four great Indian filmmakers, all bringing their own unique sensibilities and idiosyncrasies in exploring a complex and necessary subject matter. The performances are uniformly excellent, and the filmmakers bring humanity to the characters and the stories, it’s forward thinking, and brings in some clever and fun ideas that feel fully explored within their limited time in the film. Plus, it adds more to the conversation surrounding women’s sexual agency in India, and I hope to see it explored in films more. If this sounds like your cup of tea, it was just released on Netflix this past weekend, and it’s very much worth the watch.